New York Minimum Wage on Path to $17.00 by 2026

Author: Michael Cardman, HR & Compliance Center Senior Legal Editor

UPDATE: The budget bill, A03006, was signed into law May 3, 2023.

May 2, 2023

The minimum wage in the New York City metropolitan area would increase to $17.00 by 2026 and then be adjusted for inflation every year thereafter under a new budget deal. The minimum wage for upstate New York would trail by $1.00 (see table below).

The increases are included in a budget bill working its way through the state legislature this week. They were added as part of an agreement reached between Gov. Kathy Hochul and key legislators last week.

"There are nearly 900,000 minimum wage earners in New York State - more likely women, more likely people of color, and many are single moms," Hochul said. "This will be a lifeline for them and protects them from labor exploitation and gives them a measure of security that they've not had until now."

Date New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County and Westchester County Upstate New York (Everywhere Else)
Current $15.00 $14.20 (non-fast food employees), $15.00 (fast food employees)
January 1, 2024 $16.00 $15.00
January 1, 2025 $16.50 $15.50
January 1, 2026 $17.00 $16.00
January 1, 2027, and every January 1 thereafter Adjusted for inflation1 Adjusted for inflation1

1Annual inflation adjustments will be determined by increasing the then-current year's minimum wage rate by the rate of change in the average of the three most recent consecutive 12-month periods between August 1 and July 31 over their preceding 12-month periods based on the US Non-Seasonally Adjusted Consumer Price Index for Northeast Region Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), rounded to the nearest five cents.

There will be no increase if:

  • The rate of inflation is negative;
  • The three-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted New York state unemployment rate rises by 0.5 percentage point or more relative to its low during the previous 12 months; or
  • Certain seasonal changes in non-farm employment occur.

These exceptions are limited to no more than two consecutive years.

If enacted, the budget deal would make New York the second East Coast state in recent weeks to enact a minimum wage increase. Maryland also passed a bill that will increase the state minimum wage to $15.00, starting January 1, 2024.